The invention herein pertains to stitching and embroidering on curved articles such as caps and particularly pertains to a cap frame drive assembly as used on conventional multi-head sewing machines.
With the cost of labor and other expenses escalating rapidly in recent years, sewing and embroidering shops have attempted to reduce costs and increase profits through the use of modern equipment including multi-head sewing machines which may have ten or more sewing xe2x80x9cheadsxe2x80x9d or stations. These machines are used for flat goods such as jackets, shirts and the like and can be converted for curved articles such as baseball and similar caps. As it is rare to embroider or sew on only curved articles, most machine operators are required to change from flat goods to caps often, even though such changes require wasted machine downtime and labor. As multi-head sewing machines utilize pantographs to duplicate stitching from station to station it has been necessary to provide drive frames for curved articles which can be set up efficiently and properly once attached. While drive frame assemblies on multi-head sewing machines for cap and other curved articles are well known, such prior devices generally require several hours of downtime for attachment and changeover from flat goods to curved articles such as caps.
Thus, with the known problems and disadvantages of using prior curved article drive assemblies, it is an objective of the present invention to provide a drive assembly for a multi-head sewing machine which is easy to attach and remove as required.
It is an objective of the present invention to provide a cap frame drive assembly which includes a drive base having a pair of cam mechanisms affixed thereto for quick attachment and release.
It is still another objective of the present invention to provide a drive base utilizing a drive cylinder and a drive belt which is affixed to a rotational drive platform on the sewing machine pantograph.
It is a further objective of the present invention to provide a drive base which can be permanently attached for long runs to a pantograph with simple machine screws or bolts in little time.
It is yet another objective of the present invention to provide a method of attaching a drive assembly for curved articles which can be quickly learned by relatively inexperienced personnel.
Various other objectives and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art as a more detailed description is set forth below.
The aforesaid and other objectives are realized by providing a cap frame drive assembly which can be releasably affixed to a conventional pantograph of a multi-head sewing machine as used for embroidering, sewing, stitching, monograms, logos, names and the like on baseball and other caps and other curved articles. In the preferred method of attachment, a drive base having a pair of vertical latch pins is positioned with the latch pins in apertures of the pantograph. A pair of cam mechanisms are then manually actuated to drive cam followers against the edge of the pantograph causing the drive base to move in a forward direction, from the pantograph and allowing engagement of the latch pins with the aperture walls. Rotating levers which are attached to cams provide quick attachment or release as desired. In an alternate embodiment, the pantograph drive base is simply bolted to the pantograph. Both embodiments utilize a series of wheels which allow rotation of a drive cylinder driven by a belt secured to a rotational drive platform, also affixed to the pantograph. A guide or leveling shim, formed preferably from felt allows proper vertical positioning of the drive base at each station, relative to the top of the sewing arm.